In honoring Penn State, Jaworski hopes Maxwell Club can do the same again with Paterno

March 01, 2013|By Mark Wogenrich, Of The Morning Call

ATLANTIC CITY — — Ron Jaworski called the 2012 Penn State football team a "great American story" that even he, despite his fondness for Bill O'Brien, didn't see coming. On Friday, Jaworski said he hopes Joe Paterno can be recognized as part of that story in the future as well.

O'Brien and more than 20 former players gathered here Friday to receive several awards from the Maxwell Football Club and commemorate the 2012 season. Penn State's senior class was presented the Thomas Brookshier Spirit Award, recognizing their "commitment, character and effort" in going 8-4 last season.

In addition, former Penn State star Matt Millen presented O'Brien with the Maxwell Club's college coach-of-the-year award, which carried Paterno's name two years ago.

"I wish somehow, some way coach Paterno could be exonerated from anything that happened [at Penn State]," Jaworski, the former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback and Maxwell Club president, said before the group's annual banquet.

The Maxwell Club recognized Penn State's senior class with its Thomas Brookshier Award, named for the late Philadelphia Eagles player and broadcaster. The award is a special presentation by the Maxwell Club, which presents 13 high school, college and professional football awards.

O'Brien called the awards "humbling" and a tribute to the entire Penn State football program. Athletic Director David Joyner attended the banquet along with many of the team's assistant coaches and staff members.

"This is a special event and a close group of guys," former center Matt Stankiewitch said. "It's also the last time we'll be in the same spot for a while, so it's definitely an emotional time."

Jaworski had dinner with a group of Penn State players Thursday night, calling them "absolutely amazing young men" who came together under O'Brien's direction. Among them was Stankiewitch, who said nearly every team at the NFL combine asked him about the scandal and last season. He used it as an opportunity to describe how Penn State achieved through "adversity."

"I was just blown away by the way they handled themselves," Jaworski said. "It's a group of young men Penn State should be proud of."

Even Chuck Pagano, the Indianapolis Colts coach who was diagnosed with leukemia last year, called O'Brien and Penn State inspiring. Pagano, who received the NFL coaching award with Arizona's Bruce Arians, said he admired how the Lions handled last season.

"I think about the circumstrances that your team and university were faced with," Pagano told O'Brien. "… It would have been very easy for those seniors to jump ship, so to speak, but you held it together. That's a testament to you and your leadership and what you're made of and what your mindset is. And that was our mindset [in Indianapolis] from day 1."

Jaworski, who got to know O'Brien when he was the offensive coordinator in New England, said he expected O'Brien to be a successful head coach. But Penn State's 8-4 season, which followed scandal and NCAA sanctions, took him by surprise.

"I love Bill; I love a lot of coaches around the league," Jaworski said. "But I could not envision anyone going in there and getting that program turned around as quickly as he did. "If you had asked me a year ago, I would have said, 'Man, this is going to be a mess.' It's amazing. It's a great American story."

Jaworski said that O'Brien brought "calm" to the situation at Penn State as well a skilled offensive mind. He added that O'Brien will be a successful NFL head coach "someday" and that Penn State fans should get used to hearing his name mentioned around openings in the future.

"The anger that persisted toward Penn State, and about Penn State, [O'Brien] just had a way of saying, 'All right, we understand what just happened,'" Jaworski said. "But he wasn't worried about history. He learned from history but he moved forward. He became a pioneer. We have a lot of historians, but we don't have enough pioneers."

In 2010, the Maxwell Club created the Joseph V. Paterno Award "to honor the spirit of coach Paterno, whose longtime success on the field has been matched only by his impact away from it." Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer won the first, and only, award.

In November 2011, after Paterno was fired as Penn State's head coach, the Maxwell Club discontinued the award. Jaworski said he has "always been a big Penn State fan" and admirer of Paterno.

"In my heart, there's no way I think Joe Paterno knew what was going on," Jaworski said. "Just speaking from my heart, that's how I feel. I wish his name could be cleared of any involvement whatsoever, so we could continue to pay homage to Joe and what he meant to Penn State and college football as a whole."

MAXWELL AWARDS

The Maxwell Football Club presented the following awards Friday night at its annual banquet in Atlantic City.